Anonymous
Unregistered
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Although I'm going to try my hand at prime-focus and eyepiece-projection photography, it does include one of Canon's better 50mm lenses. This is the f/1.4 with SSC or Super Spectral Coatings in case I get the urge to do wide-field because my mount isn't good enough to do the other two types.
It comes with the A1 winder too. I didn't really need that, but it will be nice for other photos.
Notice that there is no brassing on the corners. This camera has seen very little use over it's lifetime. The guy assured me that the meter calibration was correct and the seals and mirror cushion are in good shape and no fungus in the lens. It'll be nice to have one of these again after all this time.
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litespeed
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 10/31/03
Posts: 948
Loc: Sebastian, FL
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Schultze,
Hey, I just got my hands on one of those. Only problem I see with it, is that the shutter is held open electrically. The batteries are expensive too. Do you plan to do long expousures with it? Are you going to do the Lantern battery mod?
AJ
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AJ
Orion 127 SVP
TouCam
Canon 20D
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Hi AJ. I've never heard of the lantern battery mod. Most exposures I'm hoping, won't be longer than 15 minutes or so.
The only bummer about the camera is that you can't use the self-timer on the bulb setting.
Tell me about that mod. 
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litespeed
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 10/31/03
Posts: 948
Loc: Sebastian, FL
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I'll see if I can find the link.
You can wire a lantern battery directly to where the factory battery sits allowing for very long exposures for a very little$. Those Canon batteries are between $9 and $15 a pop. You will kill it pretty quick doing exposures over a couple minutes without the mod. I've already ruined my first roll of $film.
AJ
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AJ
Orion 127 SVP
TouCam
Canon 20D
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Thanks.
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litespeed
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 10/31/03
Posts: 948
Loc: Sebastian, FL
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Here is one of them.....
http://astro.umsystem.edu/apml/ARCHIVES/APR00/msg00779.html
I'm still looking....
The AE-1 and A-1 are the same in regards to shutter operation and the battery drain problem. They are saying the that the lantern battery mod will give you months worth of long exposures versus days with the original battery$$$.
AJ
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AJ
Orion 127 SVP
TouCam
Canon 20D
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Thanks AJ. After mentioned that, the wheels started turning and I was thinking along those same lines.
That seems like a good set-up for long exposures. Save the camera battery for the snapshots.
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Suk Lee
Post Laureate
Reged: 10/07/03
Posts: 4314
Loc: Pleasanton, CA
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Alright! 
Nice looking camera, just in time for full moon...
Suk
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http://www.siliconvalleyskies.com
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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beautiful camera, where did you get it? how much did you pay for it?
sorry you got it for long exposure astrophotography since it's not the best for that with the electronic shutter and all.
keep in mind that you'll have to find a way to keep that lantern battery out of the way, but still connected to the camera, if you do go that route.
i have a total of 5 canon bodies, 2 ae-1p's, 2 ftb's, and an ft. the latter 3 are perfect for astrophotos since they're fully manually operated. if you look around, and are less interested in trying to rig up an battery to the a-1, these manual models can usually be had on ebay for about $20-$50.
ds
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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After checking out the site that AJ gave me, I'm not worried about external power. That'll be easy to rig up.
I got it at E-bay for $175. It's my second in 20 years.
I've owned the AE1-P and a TLb in the past as well.
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litespeed
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 10/31/03
Posts: 948
Loc: Sebastian, FL
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AE-1 P is a REAL good one too!!
Good all around camera!
AJ
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AJ
Orion 127 SVP
TouCam
Canon 20D
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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I came a little while ago. This camera must have been sitting in someone's closet for the past twenty years. It looks essentially new, with one small mark on the top of the prism housing and a pin-sized mark on the ASA set wheel.
I was the only bidder on this A1. I've been watching the A1 auctions for weeks to get an idea of starting prices, selling prices, and reserves. This guy took the tech specs right out of the manual for the description. Not one word about the cosmetics, mechanicals, or electronics of this camera he was selling...so I sent him a long e-mail with a lot of questions and every one was answered.
All of those "lookers" missed a heck of a deal.
I've tested all of it's functions, checked the seals, mirror foam, and the shutter cutain, and inspected it inside and out. The Canon f/1.4 SSC lens looks like it came out of the box yesterday.
Now I have to wait a bit before I get the stuff I need to get this camera on the end of my telescope.
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litespeed
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 10/31/03
Posts: 948
Loc: Sebastian, FL
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The mirror foam is still in good condition?!
That is amazing. It seems that is always one of the first things to go along with a closet full of others.
Sounds like you got your hands on a nice one!
AJ
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AJ
Orion 127 SVP
TouCam
Canon 20D
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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oooo that is a great looking camera!
this brings back memories of when i first bought my
canon ftb in 1976.... i still have it and am looking
forward to using it own astropics... although i am tinkering with the digital too much....*G*.... the ftb is manual and the shutter speeds range from 1 second to 1/1000th of a second.
sky
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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This was my first 35mm way back in about '73 give or take a year. It took great photos and automatic exposure was still a few years away. It used the match needle exposure indicator. It was a solid and reliable first camera for the newbie.
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Suk Lee
Post Laureate
Reged: 10/07/03
Posts: 4314
Loc: Pleasanton, CA
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My first SLR, in '74, was a Yashica TL Electro-X:
M42 mount, TTL manual metering with *LEDs* instead of a match needle.
Gone now, should have kept it.
Suk
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http://www.siliconvalleyskies.com
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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LED's were a big advancement back then. I remember my music teacher having the first LED watch I'd ever seen or heard of. They cost quite a bit back then.
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Suk Lee
Post Laureate
Reged: 10/07/03
Posts: 4314
Loc: Pleasanton, CA
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I remember reading about the LED watches in "Popular Science". Weren't they something insane like $1k back then?
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http://www.siliconvalleyskies.com
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Yep. Or nearly so. That was a whole lot of money back in the early '70's.
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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so was buying a *pocket* calculator in the early 70s... $175 for the basic arithmetic keys plus~! square root, EE key (a necessity for physics class) and an x squared....
i was hi-tech~!
sky
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Tom L
Reged: 01/07/04
Posts: 29811
Loc: Sunny Oregon
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Ah, my TI model 14 calculator...thing of beauty!
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Tom 
Tele Vue 102mm f/8.6 on an EzTouch
Vixen 80mm f/5 A80SSWT on a grab-n-go mount
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Suk Lee
Post Laureate
Reged: 10/07/03
Posts: 4314
Loc: Pleasanton, CA
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I still have my HP-65 that my dad bought me.
100 whole memory locations of programmability, and an actual magnetic card reader/writer.
Man, how old are *we*?
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http://www.siliconvalleyskies.com
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rboe
Numbfinger
Reged: 03/16/02
Posts: 39486
Loc: Phx, AZ
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Sky; no wonder you have such a small avatar; hide your old age! 
I picked up a pentax KX motordrive in the mid 70's. A Praktica was my first SLR so this was my new camera. Still think of it as my new camera. What a shock when I found out it's a bit of a collecters item now.
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Ron
NS11GPS
Pronto
16" dob
15X70 Obies
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rboe
Numbfinger
Reged: 03/16/02
Posts: 39486
Loc: Phx, AZ
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I still have my sliderules... When one of my professers retired I got a few from his collection. Which I could remember some of the higher fns.
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Ron
NS11GPS
Pronto
16" dob
15X70 Obies
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Quote:
Sky; no wonder you have such a small avatar; hide your old age!
  seems to me i hear *you* talkin about things that only honorable baby boomers with secret code rings would know...
now, be kind or you might see a 40 pound kitty cat sitting on your dobsonian one night~!
sky
arranging my bottles of glucosamin chondrotin
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Quote:
Man, how old are *we*?
hahahHAhhHahhHahHahhahaha
well, i dont know about you, Suk, but according to rboe, i should turn in my newtonian for the smithsonian~!
 btw, rboe, i actually have the instruction book for the slide rule somewhere around here~!
sky
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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for anyone interested in Canon FD (a1, ae1, ae1p, ft, ftb, tl, tlb, etc....) equipment and Ebay, check this out: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/starka/CanonFD_ebay2.htm
when shopping on ebay, i use this list. prices seem well within the ballpark.
ds
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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I sold that TLb to a friend back in about 1978 or '79.
He now has a very classy portrait studio in my hometown. He never knew how much he enjoyed photography until he bought my camera.
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